Tag Archives: total eclipse of the charts

Keeping this short as it’s a really busy week here at the station – we are still eyeballs-deep in Suoni goodness, and there’s a ton going on in terms of our coverage, special programming, and remote broadcasts. Over the past week I got to check out local free-jazz-gone-noise upstarts Nyon (above) open for Peter Brotzmann & Heather Leigh, Montreal/Berlin duo Pelada, improv heavyweights Nace/Flaherty/Meginsky, and so much more… Gimme a shout during tracking hours on Thursday if you wanna hear about my personal faves thus far.

xo
joni

:::WHAT’S UP AT CKUT:::
Tune into Jazz Euphoriumtomorrow night from 8-10pm EST and hear us broadcast live from Casa del Popolo as jazz trio Icepick (Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten/Chris Corsano/Nate Wooley) take over the airwaves. We’re lucky to broadcast this special performance to the masses, and if you can’t be there for the show then tune in and catch our feed straight from the soundboard. Essential listening! Stream it all viackut.ca.

We’re in the midst of Suoni Per Il Popolo right now and there’s soooo much live music to take in — over the past few days I’ve managed to catch Nailbiter, Group A, Un Blonde, Dorothea Paas, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Steve Hauschildt, and more that I am currently forgetting. Tonight I’m gearing up for the sonic onslaught of Peter Brotzmann & Heather Leigh; check in with me tomorrow and see if my eardrums are still intact.

xo
joni

:::WHAT’S UP AT CKUT:::
Tune into the Montreal Sessions today from 3-5pm EST for a recap of Suoni highlights thus far and a look ahead at what’s in store for the coming week. Special guest hosts Tristan & Alex Giardini give the inside scoop, tipping you lucky listeners off to the true gems of this excellent festival. Our Suoni extravaganza continuestomorrow as stunning local duo Sound Of The Mountain host our residency program If You Got Ears, honing in on the free jazz and experimental highlights of Suoni’s programming. Stream that one live from 12-2pmon Wednesday, or download the full archives of both shows via ckut.ca.

The annual Suoni Per Il Popolo festival is right around the corner and we’re all pretty psyched for the insane lineup of artists who are rolling through Montreal this June. Personally, I’m really looking forward to Pharmakon, Peter Brotzmann & Heather Leigh, Princess Nokia, Pelada, Moor Mother, and Les Filles de Illighadad — but there’s so much more, it’s honestly a bit hard to keep track of. Stay tuned for plenty of CKUT coverage as the festival progresses!

Last week’s garbage-feasting raccoon was a big hit, so as a followup here’s a squirrel I spotted in my front yard last week with an entire St. Viateur bagel in its mouth. I wasn’t kidding about our wildlife being gluttonous.

xo
joni

:::WHAT’S UP AT CKUT:::Suoni, that’s what’s up! We’re dedicating a lot of our programming, including both ourMontreal Sessions and If You Got Ears residency programs, to the famously ear-bending festival for the month of June. Keep an eye on the blog for artist interviews, concert reviews, and other special features over the next three weeks — we’re going all out on this one and you’re invited along for the ride.

It was a great long weekend here – I had a friend visiting Montreal for the first time, so we spent most of Saturday and Sunday walking around and chilling in different parks. It was a nice opportunity to show off our city’s fine array of wildlife, including our brave and gluttonous population of raccoons. We also caught terrific local band Blue Odeur on Friday night – they’re soooo good. Definitely a highlight of the weekend!

xo
joni

:::WHAT’S UP AT CKUT:::
We’re shaking up our regular programming this weekend in honour of the annualMontreal Anarchist Book Fair. On Sunday May 28th, tune into CKUT from 11am till 1pm and catch us broadcasting live and chatting with a variety of presenters and participants. If you’re gonna be there hanging out, be sure to stop by the CKUT table and give us a high-five – we’d love to see you!

I was in upstate NY over the weekend visiting some friends who live in Saratoga Springs. Getting out of the city is nice! On Friday night it was even warm enough to have a bonfire outside — a real treat after the spell of weirdly chilly weather last week in Montreal.

Check out those charts below: local favourites Le fruit vert (ft. legendary former CKUT music coordinator AJ Cornell) take the #1 spot. Their record is a real gem, definitely worthy a listen for those with open ears.

Hello friends,
Allergy season is HERE — despite the fact that it snowed (?!) yesterday and today in Montreal, the pollen is in full blast right now. It feels very weird to be biking around, still bundled up in winter gear, and be all sneezy and itchy-eyed at the same time. If we chat on the phone for tracking this week please don’t mind my sniffles and sneezing in the background. And maybe share any magical hayfever remedies you know of? I’m already rocking the local honey & allergy meds, but am open to pretty much any suggestions at this point — except maybe the freaky-sounding carbolic smoke ball advertised above.
xo
joni

:::WHAT’S UP AT CKUT:::
Dominique Alexander (Urlapse, buffalo MRI) will be gripping the wheels at CKUT and playing selector every Wednesday in May from 12:00-14:00h for that chimeric transmission called If You Got Ears. Through deep recon, rake and rummage through her personal gatherum, she’ll be serving up rare cartridges, banging circles, and info stick for your afternoon listening pleasure. Plotting a survey course into concrète jungle, tune in for some coincidence control, hush and scatter, assorted echoes and toyings.

Hi folks,
I’m a bit under the weather this week and on some heavy-duty cold meds right now, so I’m gonna keep this short for today. Charts are below!
xo
joni

:::WHAT’S UP AT CKUT:::
During the month of May, CKUT turns the Montreal Sessions over to the good folks at Distorsion Psych Fest. The collective will venture in all things psychedelic and subversive, bringing along a selection of guests from our vibrant local psych scene. Catch it live or download the full audio archives via ckut.ca every Tuesday from 3-5pm.

Greetings radio,
Montreal was given a real treat last week when the legendary Michael Hurley made a stop here along with opener Glenn Jones; that, combined with Wolf Eyes a few days earlier, made for a pretty inspiring week of music. You seen anything especially good lately?
xo
joni

Hi friends,
Hope you had a great long weekend. I managed to check a lot of things off the spring to-do list with that magical extra day off (feels so good, doesn’t it?): took my bike in for a tune-up, planted a whole bunch of seedlings, and purged a ton of old junk that was collecting dust in my apartment. Somehow I managed to go the entire weekend without seeing any live music, but that’s all gonna change with the Wolf Eyes/Drainolith/Gashrat show tonight — been looking forward to this one for a while, should be a doozy.
xo
joni

:::WHAT’S UP AT CKUT:::
Local DIY publisher L’Oie de Cravan is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year with a stacked celebration, and CKUT is thrilled to be both covering and supporting the festivities. Tune into Montreal Sound Arkthis Friday from 3-5pm for a special episode featuring live readings by legendary music critic & poet Byron Coley, and possibly a couple other surprise appearances from artists gracing this fine weekend-long bill. Highly recommended!

Not much to report here this week — we’re nearing the end of the semester and many of our student volunteers are deep in final papers and exam prep, so it’s been pretty quiet around the station. This lull in the usual craziness gives us a nice chance to work on some big-picture ideas. It’s CKUT’s 30th birthday in the fall, and we’re cooking up some exciting plans to celebrate. Stay tuned…

Over the weekend I was lucky enough to catch a show featuring live debuts from three great acts, including sundogs (above), L’Ordre de l’Infiniment Nada, and dmr. I always find it inspiring to see acts hit the stage for the first time and totally crush it; it’s a good reminder of the creative and gutsy artists we are fortunate to have in abundance here in Montreal.

xo
joni

:::WHAT’S UP AT CKUT:::
We’re very excited to welcome Iranian-born, Montreal-based sound artists MP | vH+as our curators for our monthly experimental radio residency, If You Got Ears. Here’s what to expect, in their own words:

We are “MP | vH+”, and we invite you to take a trip with us to the farthest territories of computational sound art. We will point at aspects, approaches, questions and meditations on the different areas of “La music informatique”.

Most important, we will listen to music, some of them are composed and performed by ourselves, and the others are masterworks of contemporary music composed by others, only performed by us, using diverse methods, divergent techniques and different systems.

Welcome to our lab.

MP & vH+

Catch this very special program every Wednesday in April from noon – 2pm, or download the archive via ckut.ca.